[NLA] COABE conference

[Andres Muro]

Jay: thank you for responding. What you experienced must have been very frustrating, and yet, I feel that is a central problem in exploring issues of multiculturalism. The response that you got may seem unfair, but it is a defensive response from a group that has been and continues to be oppressed, when in practice other,  more dialogic responses, are often misinterpreted or used to further oppress black people. A strategy that many minorities use to defend their unique perspective is to claim "epistemic privilege". This means that they can only understand an issue by virtue of being a member of a cultural group that has experienced a certain type of circumstance by virtue of their condition. It is similar to an abused woman telling a man that he wouldn't understand what types of fears a woman that has been abused may feel towards a system. For outsiders, ie, whites, men, etc. the claim of epistemic privilege is frustrating to our genuine desire to contribute. However, it is a legitimate claim that we need to respect. After all, we are not members of the group that is struggling. We are allies in their cause. As allies in that cause, we must offer our support but we need to respect their space when they feel that we may not understand. This discussion should be central to our work in adult education and literacy since we are often dealing with multicultural and gendered spaces and experiences. We must learn to create and explore spaces of dialogue where we can all participate and create spaces were one group can participate safely while excluding other groups. White people may claim that this is unfair, since they cannot do this because they are often seen as racist for doing this. However, white people happened to be the hegemonic group in our society. Plus, they do it all the time anyways. I will not go on, but this is an important discussion to explore in our field since we need to understand muilticultural relations in this country where the balance of power continues to be on the side of those who lack melat
testosterone. Ignoring or not exploring these issues will not make them go away and will continue to polarize our society. Let discuss this further.

Andres



>>> JCretella at aol.com 05/15/02 01:57PM >>>
Andre, I just reponded to the same question from someone at SABES...The only 
point of view accepted by those at the roundtable was their view!!! If you 
want more information  ' talk to S. Gabb...She led the discussion as well as 
made a presentation to the COABE Board.

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